Coke oven standpipe lid and damper valve operating mechanism



Dec. 8,1970 1.. G.- TUCKER 3,545,077

I COKE OVEN STANDPIPE LID AND DAMPER VALVE OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Oct, 21, R1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I

I INVENTOR.

ulvwooo 6. 70cm? BY 5 i United States Patent 3,546,077 COKE OVEN STANDPIPE LID AND DAMPER VALVE OPERATING MECHANISM Linwood G. Tucker, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Koppers Company, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 21, 1968, Ser. No. 769,006 Int. Cl. Cb 27/06 US. Cl. 202-270 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An extendable and retractable rack mounted on a larry car engages a gear freely rotatable on the pivot shaft of a standpipe lid. When the rack extends and rotates the gear, a connecting rod mounted to the gear and to a cam first closes the damper valve, and then protrusions on the gear engage the lid to open it. When the rack re-engages the gear and is retracted, the protrusions on the gear first engage the lid and close it, and thereafter movement of the cam opens the damper valve.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements in equipment associated with a horizontal coke oven battery. More particularly, the invention relates to mechanisms for opening and closing the standpipe lid of a coke oven and for closing and opening the damper valve in the standpipe.

Horizontal coke oven batteries customarily have single or double collecting mains that receive the gases liberated from the coal during the coking process. In batteries having a single collecting main, each coking chamber is connected to each collecting main by means of a conventional ascension or standpipe; whereas, in batteries having double collecting mains, each coking chamber has two conventional ascension or standpipes.

Heavy and hard deposits of carbon accumulate on the interior surfaces of the elbow portion of the ascension or standpipe, and it is the usual practice, after pushing coke from a chamber, to close an interior damper valve and to open a lid on the standpipe before recharging the chamber with coal. The open standpipe lid allows a coke oven battery operator to insert a tool to manually or mechanically remove carbon deposits from the elbow portion of the standpipe.

Heretofore, the coke oven battery operator has manually opened and closed the standpipe lid, as well as manually closed and opened the damper valve in the standpipe. Such work, of course, is laborious and unpleasant, and is usually carried out under very trying conditions.

Those skilled in the art will recognize from the following description how the present invention avoids all the manual work necessary to open and close the standpipe lids and to close and open the damper valves in the standpipes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Apparatus in accordance with the invention includes a gear or operator that is rotatable on the shaft about which a standpipe lid pivots to open and close. A cam mounted adjacent to the standpipe is connected to the rotatable gear or operator by a connecting rod or link so that when the operator rotates, so does the cam. Means are provided to connect the cam to the damper valve so that when the cam rotates, so does the damper valve. Means is mounted on the larry car to rotate the rotatable operator, and projections on the rotatable operator engage the lid and pivot the same to the open position after the cam has rotated enough so the damper valve is in the closed position. The same means may be used to rotate "ice the operator in the opposite direction to close the standpipe lid before the cam opens the damper valve.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention is illustrated in the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic transverse view of the top portion of a coke oven battery having double collecting mains, at or near an ascension or standpipes;

FIG. 2 is a schematic elevational view, at an enlarged scale, of the standpipe at the right hand side of FIG. 1, showing the lid in the closed position and the damper valve in the open position; and

FIG. 3 is a view of the apparatus of FIG. 2 with the lid in the open position and the damper valve in the closed position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The top of a conventional coke oven battery 11, illustrated schematically in FIG. 1, is traversed by a conventional larry car 13 that operates on rails 15, mounted atop the battery 11. At the sides of the coke oven battery 11, there are two gas collecting mains 17 (in some instances only one collecting main is used), and gases, liberated from coal being coked in each coking chamber, pass through conventional vertical ascension or standpipes 19. The standpipes 19 are lined with refractory material 21 and they have conventional elbows 23' at the top through which off-gases flow into the collecting mains 17.

As shown in FIG. 2, each standpipe assembly includes an elbow lid or cover 25, and an inside liquor seal valve 27, commonly termed a damper valve. The elbow lid or cover 25 is pivotable about a shaft 29 and the damper valve 27 is also pivotable about a shaft 31.

An outward extension of shaft 29 supports a rotatable gear or operator 33, to which are mounted the plurality of fixed horizontally extending pins. A first fixed horizontally extending pin 35 is located about where shown in FIG. 1, and a second pin 37 extends in the opposite direction from that of pin 35. One end of a connecting rod 39 is mounted to the pin 37. The other end of the connecting rod 39 is connected to a horizontally extending pin 41 fixed to a cam 43 that is pivotable about a shaft 45 mounted to the gas collecting main 17. A third fixed horizontally extending pin 47 is fixed to the ear or operator 43 and extends generally in the direction of and parallel to pin 35, for a purpose that will become evident hereinafter; pin 47 is spaced angularly about from pin 35.

The elbow lid or cover 25 is provided with a fixed, outwardly extending arm 49 located, about as shown in FIG. 2, that is spaced angularly from the pin 35 about 60.

The cam 43 is provided with an opening 51 and a cam follower 53, mounted to a lever 55, cooperates with the walls defining the opening 51; the lever 55 being fixed to the shaft 31 in the same manner the damper valve 27 is fixed to the shaft 31. The opening 51 has the shape shown in FIG. 2 which includes a short, straight portion that merges with an arcuate portion; there being a shoulder 57 in one wall that serves a purpose that will become evident hereinafter.

Shaft 31 also supports another lever 59, to which is attached a conventional counterweight (not shown). Lever 59 is also fixed to shaft 31, so that whenever cam 43 rotates, so also rotate lever 55 and lever 59. Lever 55 is a conventional hand-operating lever that is available to close the damper valve manually whenever desired.

The larry car 13 is provided with either one or two gear-engaging and operating mechanisms 61, depending upon whether or not there are one or two gas collecting mains 17 and one or two ascension pipes 19 for each coking chamber.

Each gear-engaging and operating mechanism 61 includes a shaft 63 journalled in bearings 65 mounted suitably to the side of the larry car 13, as suggested in FIG. 1. To the shaft 63 is fixed an outwardly extending member 67 on which is mounted a cylinder-piston arrangement 69. The outward end of rod 71 extending from the cylinderpiston arrangement 69 has flat rack 73 that is several times as wide as the width of the teeth on the gear 33; the rack 73 being adapted to mesh and coact with the gear teeth 33 in a way described hereinafter.

The cylinder-piston arrangement 69 is of the double acting type, having a fluid connection 75 at each end to admit and discharge operating fluid from the cylinder portion.

Conventional means is also provided, but not shown, to rotate the outwardly extending member 67 so that the rack 73 may engage or be disengaged from the gear 33.

In operation, it is assumed that the damper valve is opened and the standpipe lid is closed, as shown in FIG. 2, and the larry. car 13 is spotted at the coal charging openings for the purposes of recharging the coke coking chamber with fresh coal. Prior to charging coal into the coking chamber, it is customary to remove at least the heavier carbon deposits from the elbow and adjoining parts of the standpipe. This operation, at present, is carried out by an operator who manually lifts the standpipe lid and manually removes depository material from the elbow portion with a hand tool. Before the operator lifts the standpipe lid, however, he must close manually the damper valve inside the standpipe.

The present invention includes apparatus that will actuate the standpipe lid and the damper valve in proper sequence, and such apparatus may be operated by the larry car operator at a remote location.

When the larry car is spotted at a charging location, the shaft 63 is rotated clockwise, as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3, until the rack 73 engages the gear 33, about as shown in FIG. 2. Then, by admitting fluid to the appropriate fluid connection 75, the gear 33 rotates clockwise as the pistonrod-rack etxends toward the right.

The connecting rod 39, of course, rotates clockwise and downward; rotating the cam 43 counterclockwise.

At first, the cam follower 53 merely slides in the straight portion of the opening 51 until it contacts the shoulder 57, whereupon, the cam follower 53 and the arm 55 then rotate counterclockwise about the axis of the shaft 31. Rotation of the shaft 31 effects closing of the damper valve 27.

After the gear 33 has rotated through an angle of about 60, the damper valve is closed and the fixed horizontally extending pin 35 engages the arm 49 and opens the standpipe lid 25; the cam follower 53 merely being restrained by the arcuate portion of the opening 51 to remain in position and keep the damper valve closed. The counterweight mentioned hereinbefore, but not shown, is attached to lever 59 and helps to maintain the damper valve in the closed position.

The gear 33 rotates until the standpipe lid is fully opened and then the rack 73 will be extended fully, or nearly so, to the position shown in FIG. 3. Thereafter, the outwardly extending member 67 may be rotated counterclockwise to disengage the rack 73 from the gear 33, and to permit the larry car 13 to move along the battery to another location, or to move far enough to admit an automatic cleaning device into the standpipe elbow.

Later, when the larry car returns to a respective coke oven chamber to close the standpipe lid, the outwardly extended member is first rotated clockwise, while at the same time, the rack is extended; the rack portion then engaging the gear so that the rack may be withdrawn and the gear rotated counterclockwise.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that the rack is made several times wider than the gar to facilitate engagement with the gear without having to spot the larry car very accurately. There always is some misalignment between the larry car and the standpipe, and by having the rack several times wider, any normal misalignment will not interfere with the operation of the mechanism of the invention. When the rack retracts, the gear rotates through an angle of about 15 before the fixed horizontally extending pin 47 engages the outwardly extending arm 49. Further rotation of the gear urges the standpipe lid to rotate counterclockwise about its pivot shaft, and as soon as the center of gravity of the lid passes the vertical, the weight of the lid acts to close it.

In the meantime, the cam 43 rotates clockwise and, after the gear 33 rotates through an angle of about the cam follower reaches the shoulder portion of the opening and enters the straight portion. Thereafter, the damper valve begins to open as the lever, fixedly connected to the shaft about which the damper valve rotates, pivots downwardly until the damper valve is fully open.

In applications of the invention to double collecting main coke ovens, such as is illustrated in the drawings, the rack is so arranged that it moves through only a short stroke when it is desired, for the purpose of closing the damper valve only and not opening the standpipe lid.

Those skilled in the art will recognize many features and advantages in the present invention. Among these are:

The opening and closing of the lid on the standpipe elbow and the closing and opening of the damper valve in the standpipe are accomplished mechanically and no manual work is necessary;

The powered rack is several times wider than the gear, wherefore, it is not necessary to spot the larry car in a precise location so that the rack engages the gear. Thus, the wide rack is operative even when there is the usual misalignment of larry car and the coke oven chamber;

Should it be desired to close the damper valve manually, the gear may be rotated manually, since it is freely mounted, to move the cam through an angle of about 15. Whereupon, the damper valve can be closed manually by pressing down on the outwardly extending lever.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus to open the lid and close the damper valve of a standpipe of a coke oven chamber serviced by a larry car comprising:

(a) an operator that is rotatable on the shaft about which the standpipe lid pivots to open;

(b) a cam mounted adjacent said standpipe;

(0) link means connecting said operator and said cam whereby when said operator rotates, so does said cam;

(d) means interconnecting said cam to said damper valve to rotate said damper valve when said cam rotates;

(e) means mounted to said larry car for engaging and rotating said rotatable operator; and

(f) means on said rotatable operator to engage said lid and pivot the lid open after said operator rotates enough to move the cam and the said damper valve to the closed position.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein:

(a) said rotatable operator is a gear; and

(b) said means to rotate said gear is a rack attached to an extending and retracting means.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein:

(a) said extending and retracting means includes a cylinder-piston arrangement actuated by pressurized fluid.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 including:

(a) means for mounting said cylinder-piston arrangement to said larry car.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein:

(a) said means interconnecting said cam to said damper valve includes a follower engaging said cam and mounted to a lever connected to said damper valve.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 including:

(a) means to rotate oppositely said rotatable operator;

and

(b) second means on said rotatable operator to engage said open lid and pivot the same to the closed position, said rotatable operator continuing to rotate and move said cam until said cam follower and lever pivots sufficiently to close damper valve.

7. Apparatus to operate the lid and damper valve of a standpipe of a coke oven chamber serviced by a larry car comprising:

(a) an operator that is rotatable on a shaft about Which said lid pivots to open and close;

(b) means for opening and closing said damper valve;

(0) means interconnecting said rotatable operator and said damper valve operating means;

((1) means mounted to said larry car for engaging and rotating said rotatable operator until an element connected thereto engages said lid and pivots the same to an open position, said rotatable operator continuing to rotate until said connecting member has engaged said damper valve operating means and closed said damper valve; and

(e) means mounted to said larry car for engaging and oppositely rotating said rotatable operator so that said member engages said open lid and pivots the same to a closed position, said rotating operator continuing to rotate until said connecting member engages said valve operating member and opens said valve.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,545,058 7/1925 Merritt 202-258 1,847,804 3/1932 Allen 202-258 2,424,865 7/ 1947 Tweit 202-256 FOREIGN PATENTS 498,832 5/1930 Germany 202-258 WILBUR L. BASCOMB, JR., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

